Overview

• Lithuania's parliament voted 107-0, with three abstentions, to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines.
• The withdrawal, effective in six months, aligns Lithuania with Estonia, Latvia, and Finland, which have also moved to exit the treaty in recent months.
• Baltic states and Poland initially announced plans to leave the treaty in March, citing heightened security concerns from Russian aggression in Ukraine.
• The Ottawa Convention prohibits the acquisition, production, stockpiling, or use of anti-personnel mines and has 165 state parties, excluding Russia and the U.S.
• Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, warn that the decision undermines global disarmament efforts and increases civilian risks.